Show and Tell

I ran across a profound chapter by Gail Carson Levine in Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly. "Writers are often advised to show, not tell. You need to do both," she says. Then she lists when you should show and when you should tell with your writing.

Show when you want your reader to draw their conclusions from the story. Show when you want to pull the reader deep into the text or magnify a detail.

Tell when you want to give your reader direct answers, or deliver details faster. Perhaps you don't want to draw attention to them or away from something else.

Determine which you need by evaluating the usefulness of details or the importance of the scene to your story.

Telling may work well in picture books where space is limited, and writers can leave the details to illustration.

Oral stories, fairytales, folktales, and fables often rely on telling rather than showing because direct messages are more digestible, easier to remember and repeat.
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Of course, this flies in the face of conventional wisdom. But conventional wisdom is not always wise.

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xx Cory

This post was proofread by Grammarly